AC 1.3

You now need to choose a UK tourism destination you have studied to explain how the features of the destination appeal to different types of tourist.  You will need to include information about the features of the destination and consider how and why the destination appeals to different types of tourist.

You need to produce an explanation, focusing on why the destination is appealing.

When you write an explanation, it is easy to use the word “because” regularly.  For example: The airline serves free drinks in business class because …

The information below provides ideas about alternatives to using the word “because” too often.

Alternatives to ‘because’

Many words or phrases can be used to set up an explanation. The most common is because (or “because of”), but others have their uses. Here are alternatives and a discussion of their uses and their merits.

As: As is a direct synonym for because (for example, “He chose not to go see the movie, as it had received poor reviews”).

As a result of: This phrase is a substitute for “because of,” not “because”, as in “As a result of his intervention, the case was re-opened, and they were found not guilty”.

As long as: This informal equivalent of “because” is used to express the thought that given that one thing is occurring or will occur or is true, another is possible, in such statements as “As long as you’re going, could you pick some things up for me?”

Being as: (or being as how or being that): This phrase has the same sense – and the same formality – as “as long as”.

Considering that: This phrase is essentially identical in meaning to “as long as” and “being as” and its variants.

Due to: Like “as a result of,” “due to” is a preposition, rather than a conjunction like “because”, and is used in place not of “because” alone but instead of “because of.” It applies specifically to an explanation of why something occurred or will or will not occur, as in “Due to the large number of applications, we cannot respond individually to each applicant”.

For: This substitute for “because” is reserved for poetic usage, as in “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die”.

Inasmuch as: For example: “Inasmuch as his account has been discredited, I wouldn’t believe anything else he says”.

In view of the fact that: This phrase is identical in sense to “inasmuch as.”

Out of: This phrase applies to explanations of emotion or feeling – for example, “She asked out of compassion” or “Out of spite, I refrained from passing the message along”.

Owing to: This phrase is equivalent to “due to”; the two choices are more formal than “because of”.

Seeing that: This phrase is identical to “considering that”.

Since: For example, as in “Since it had rained, we didn’t need to water the garden”; the reader might not realize until reading the second half of the sentence that the sense is causal rather than temporal.

Thanks to: This equivalent of “because of,” despite the wording, can apply to either a positive or a negative outcome; “Thanks to your meddling, we’re receiving much unwanted attention,” demonstrates the latter sense.

Through: Through is a preposition; it takes the place of “because of,” as in “Through the efforts of these charities, the city’s homeless services have been reinstated”.

Now you are ready to create your explanation.  Use as many of the alternatives to “because” as you can, but make sure that you use them correctly.